Staring
by jemisard
Summary: Auron is staring at Lulu and Tidus does not like the implications. If you want to see shounenai, you can.


He was staring at her again.

Tidus narrowed his gaze, trying to focus on the giant monster. He shouldn't be watching Auron, not at a time like this.

Mind you, Auron seemed to be having no problems with staring and fighting.

Lulu raised her arms, sweeping them downwards. Fire flared from her finger tips for a second, before rushing up and consuming the dark element. It shuddered, disintegrating under her spell.

She bowed to an imaginary crowd, and Tidus found himself marvelling at the engineering that must have gone into that dress. That it could show so much and still manage to contain her cleavage was a real feat.

Yuna looked at Tidus with wide eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." He rubbed his head, stowing his sword on his back. "I'm fine. Just, you know, a little tired."

Yuna smiled sympathetically. "We need to train harder, to become better."

"I know, I know." He sat down, watching as Rikku clapped her hands together, bringing a shower of magic down over Lulu. "Rikku's learning fast."

"She has a natural aptitude for white magic." Yuna smiled fondly. "Lulu's a good study as well."

"And you're getting pretty good at those black magics." Tidus grinned. "I think I'll stick to hitting things."

"And pinching things while you're at it," Yuna teased. "Everyone is helping each other so much. Rikku even taught me to steal the other day. I'm not very good at it, but I'll get better." She looked down. "Everyone tries their hardest. Even Wakka has been learning from Sir Auron."

She didn't have to say it. "Everyone but Auron, who stubbornly refuses to accept help from anyone," Tidus said. "He's going to get himself in trouble, I don't get why he can't accept help from us."

Yuna blushed faintly. "I'm sure he had his reasons." She nodded and looked up as the heavy foot falls approached. "You are uninjured, Sir Auron?"

He nodded silently. Yuna looked at the bracer on his arm, Tidus' gaze followed.

Blood seeped from under the heavy plating. Tidus laid a hand on her arm, stilling her as Auron left them, stopping by Lulu and Rikku.

"Leave him. He'll get stroppy if you try to help him." Tidus watched after his guardian. "I'll talk to him when we camp. Maybe get him to down some potions, we have a few of those."

"All right." Yuna bowed slightly and smiled. "I'm going to tend to Kimahri, I think that horned fiend hurt him quite badly."

Tidus watched her leave, turning his gaze to Auron afterwards. The older man was sitting on a rock, gingerly shifting his bracer.

His eyes, however, were still firmly locked on Lulu as she smiled at Rikku.

Tidus watched Rikku and Wakka bouncing the blitz ball back and forth between them, both careful not to let the ball connect with exposed skin. The poisons covering the ball were dangerous, and Yuna was getting tired of patching them both up all the time.

The glow of the white blue sphere was comforting, reminding everyone inside its light that they safe for the night.

Tidus sat down, pretending to watch the ball game, but his eyes slid sideways. Yuna and Lulu sat together, Lulu coaxing Yuna through the basics of creating fire.

Auron watched them. Not openly, most people wouldn't have caught the gaze. But Tidus wasn't most people. He had lived with Auron for ten years, he could tell the difference between anger and contentment, it was little more than a raised eyebrow between them.

Now, he was watching. Watching what, Tidus could well imagine. Lulu's impressive cleavage gave a tremble as she clapped Yuna's small flame.

Auron's head tilted slightly, his eye narrowed behind the dark lens.

Tidus got up. He ambled over to his guardian, sitting down next to him. "How's your arm? You took quite a belting from that demonlith."

Auron gave a quiet grunt. It was his, 'I'm in pain but I'm ignoring it, so leave me alone to brood' grunt.

Tidus grinned. "She's pretty, isn't she?"

Auron looked up, confusion written over his face. "Who?"

"Lulu. I asked her out once. She told me she wasn't interested in boys." He smirked. "Bet she'd like a real man though."

The older guardian's eye went wide. "What?" He flicked his gaze over to the girls again. "Don't make assumptions, boy."

"'Course not." Tidus rocked for a moment. "You know... you'd make a handsome couple. All tall and austere and severe and silent."

"Leave it." Auron's hand closed on Tidus' wrist, where his shield would normally sit. "Leave it be."

The blonde frowned and nodded. "All right." He pushed back his hair. "I was just..."

"If, and only if, I were interested her, it would not work. Unless you had forgotten, we belong to different worlds." He stared out into the emptiness of the dungeon.

"So do Yuna and I." Tidus argued.

"And you know, as well as I do, what will happen at the end. So that was a poor analogy if you attempting to encourage me." He stood up and headed over to his bedroll.

Tidus watched him for a while until he was sure he was asleep before crawling into his own bed.

The next day was proving little better. Auron was distracted, his wrist better but apparently still troubling him. Tidus watched him through three fights, unable to help out himself after a blow from a behemoth had knocked him senseless for two hours.

Seeing Auron distracted was unsettling. To think that he was distracted over a woman was...

It made Tidus uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.

Eventually Auron was sidelined for Wakka, the blitzer smiling apologetically to the older guardian when he ran in to help the two girls. Rikku came over, her hands out held, but Auron brushed her off, sitting down next to Tidus, putting the boy between himself and Rikku's helpful magics.

Rikku had sulked off to talk at Kimahri, leaving Auron and Tidus sitting together, both watching the fight they couldn't participate in.

Tidus watched Yuna close her eyes and throw up her arms. A small shimmer appeared, heralding a burst of gold light that coalesced over her head. The spell was taxing but obviously well worth the effort as Yuna smiled to herself.

Then, he had glanced at Auron.

The single russet eye was firmly locked on Lulu, studying her intently. The older woman was a far more elegant spell caster than Yuna, Tidus could admit that. Their side view affronted a nice view as she brought her arms down, fire bursting from the ground and engulfing the behemoth.

Auron's head tipped slightly, just a little, before he looked back to their enemy instead.

Tidus bit his lip and went back to watching Yuna, his hand absently rubbing the gash on his head.

He didn't like the idea of Auron studying Lulu so intently. Well, he had thought it was a good idea to try and set them up, but, he didn't like it.

Just like he hadn't liked those guys who came snooping around his mum. Childish possessiveness he guessed.

He looked back to Auron again.

Auron was oblivious to everything but Lulu.

Days blended.

Auron was watching Lulu more and more. Tidus was sure he was the only one who had noticed, but any help on his behalf to match he two of them up was met with sulking, threats and out and out ignoring him.

It was frustrating to say the least.

So, he gave up trying to play matchmaker and stuck to doing what he was good at. Being cheerful and irritatingly helpful to everyone. He coached Wakka in athletics and acrobatics while Wakka tried to teach him how to hit more accurately.

It was a good arrangement.

They wandered back and forth through the dungeon, learning and teaching. Even Auron was willing to train people, though he stubbornly kept on refusing any and all help that was offered to him.

The closest they got to helping him was the occasional healing after he was thumped unconscious.

It was like that now. Tidus watched from the side as the Marlboro spat at Auron. The swordsman brought his hand up, but the acid still splattered in his face.

The older man winced, his hand going to his eye, tossing off his sunglasses. Tidus could see the blurriness clouding around his face, clawing at his eyes, obscuring his view.

Tidus looked around the group. The three girls were all on the sidelines, Rikku's ankle was broken, Yuna couldn't move her hands and Lulu was still suffering from the effects on the first lot of poison.

Tidus struggled to his feet, ready to replace Auron. The older man usually conceded at this point, he was a hard hitter but he was a terrible aim.

Auron frowned and turned his head to Tidus, eye still unfocused.

Tidus stepped back. Auron had no intention of standing down. Not yet.

The older guardian turned to the Marlboro. He'd never be able to hit, he wasn't accurate enough to smack it, not like this.

His hand reached to his face, and Tidus thought that he was fussing over the blindness for a moment, until he gestured outwards, the hand not holding his sword snapping to the fiend.

Fire gushed from the ground beneath it. It was not large, it was not as controlled nor as fierce as the flare of light that answered Lulu's call but it was unmistakably the same spell. The fiend cried out as the fire finished it off and Auron crouched to his knees, his hand, the same one he had used to cast the spell, reaching up to rub at his blinded eye.

Tidus heard Lulu applauding, Yuna and Rikku cheering, both rushing over to patch up the older guardian, congratulating him. Wakka was in quiet awe at the apparent ease and spontaneity of casting that high level spell.

Tidus just smiled when a russet eye glanced at him and felt kind of thankful that spell learning was all that Auron had been doing.


End file.
